YouTube videos of Durant and James going through offseason workouts in Akron, Ohio, first surfaced prior to the 2011-12 season. Initial reaction was minimal.

So why, when the tradition continued this summer, did a media firestorm ensue? There was the small matter of the NBA Finals series in which James’ Miami Heat bested the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games. Durant admitted to The Oklahoman it was tough to play alongside James in a gold-winning effort at the 2012 London Olympics. Still, he doesn’t see why the outside world is so worked up about it.

“A lot of people blew (it) out of proportion,” Durant said. “It was just one day.”

James called and he obliged. Durant put it that plainly.

“I'm a competitive guy,” Durant said. “I'm sure you guys have seen that in me. I just wanted to work out. That's what it was all about. I'll work out with anybody. I would have worked out with Kobe Bryant. I would have worked out with Carmelo (Anthony). I just wanted to work out and get better.”

As pointed out by The Oklahoman, this visit was more spontaneous than last year’s workout, a longer version the pairing called “Hell Week.”

That this year’s meeting garnered such attention was in direction correlation with last season’s NBA Finals. But, as Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook pointed out to the newspaper, in the AAU age, players grow up competing with and against each other.

Durant and James, the NBA’s best small forwards and perhaps the league’s foremost talents, have known each other since high school. Now they push each other to get better, Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. In fact, Westbrook maintains a similar relationship with the Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose, his closest competition to be the league’s best young point guard.

“I think that's a big part,” Westbrook said of last year’s finals matchup. “A lot of players know each other just from playing on the same team as younger guys, AAU, high school, college. And then when they get to the NBA obviously it becomes a big deal.”